Join us for this free talk, a collection will be taken during the evening to cover costs, and drinks are available at the cash bar (which includes local Rebellion Beer). everyone is welcome, whatever your views!
The nineteenth and early twentieth centuries saw a proliferation of advertised medicines and health devices - some harmless, some strange and some downright fraudulent. From arsenic wafers to electric corsets, and from morphine-laced teething syrups to life-enhancing 'Z-Rays', Caroline Rance of www.thequackdoctor.com explores how patent medicine vendors attracted customers, and how the skeptics of the day attempted to put a stop to their lucrative activities.
Who are we?
Skeptics in the Pub is a place for inquisitive people of all ages to meet and converse in the High Wycombe area.
Skeptics are people who yearn to discover the truth behind extraordinary claims that people or groups may make, this can be in areas of alternative therapies, the paranormal, religion and faith, the afterlife and many other areas of life. We we often end up talking about superstition, science, religious fundamentalism, health, censorship and conspiracy theory
We make no claims to balance, and actively promote science, freedom of expression and secular humanism..
You are welcome to come along and just sit and listen to others, or if you are braver get stuck right in with conversation and views!
Our Website is at wycombe.skepticsinthepub.org (http://wycombe.skepticsinthepub.org/) where you will find links to join our Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/groups/HighWycombeSkeptics/) page and follow us on Twitter (https://twitter.com/wycombesitp).

Past Meetups (202)

What we're about

Public Group

Skeptics in the Pub (or Sceptics in the Pub, if you prefer) are groups which meet and converse in the UK and beyond, usually gathering once every month.

The event was founded in London, UK by Dr Scott Campbell in 1999, for all those interested in science, history, psychology, philosophy, investigative journalism and how to examine extraordinary claims of all types.

A speaker (or number of speakers) is invited each month to present a topic of interest, which is followed by a discussion in a relaxed and friendly pub atmosphere.

We make no claims to balance, and actively promote science, freedom of expression and secular humanism. This means we often end up talking about superstition, religious fundamentalism, censorship and conspiracy theory.

A skeptic is one who prefers beliefs and conclusions that are reliable and valid to ones that are comforting or convenient, and therefore rigorously and openly applies the methods of science and reason to all empirical claims, especially their own.

A skeptic provisionally proportions acceptance of any claim to valid logic and a fair and thorough assessment of available evidence, and studies the pitfalls of human reason and the mechanisms of deception so as to avoid being deceived by others or themselves.

Skepticism values method over any particular conclusion.

In short skepticism is an intellectual speciality that is grounded in science and the humanities and includes any knowledge that deals with the nature of knowledge and belief, critical thinking, the foibles of the human intellect, and deception.